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Religious beliefs of Americans

The Ten Commandments, other
beliefs, social problems, role of
religion, church/state separation

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Posting the Ten Commandments and other church/state
separation issues:

Time.com started a web-site poll on 1999-JUN-18. The poll was probably
created as a response to the Columbine High School
shooting in Littleton, CO. They asked the question: "Do you think
posting the Ten Commandments in schools will have a positive effect on youth
crime?" Answers, as of 2000-MAR-6, from 64,219 voters were:

65% Negative responses:

59% No, and it violates the separation of church and
state;

6% No;

35% Positive responses:

33% Yes

2% Yes, but it violates the separation of church and state

1% Not sure

There was no allowance in the poll for the opinion that posting the Ten
Commandments might increase school violence. Almost all of the school
shooters were motivated to commit their crimes either:

because of mental illness, or

because of an overpowering desire for revenge in retaliation for
having been marginalized, rejected and belittled by fellow students
for a long time.

Posting the Ten Commandments with their four or five commandments to
worship Jehovah would probably create one more minority to ridicule: those
who are neither Christian nor Jewish. That might increase the frequency of
shootings.

The First Amendment Center and the American Journalism Review
released the results of a poll on 2003-AUG-1. They found that:

68% of adults believe that teachers who include "one nation under
God" in the Pledge of Allegiance were not violating the
principle of separation of church and state

36% said that they were.

73% of respondents said that the pledge, including the "under God"
phrase is "primarily a statement related to the American political
tradition."

18% said that it was primarily a religious statement.

60% of adults said that it was acceptable to post the Ten
Commandments in government offices.

35% said that they should not.

60% favored allowing the government to fund drug treatment programs
at religious institutions, even if they include a religious message in
their programs.

In 2001-MAY, CitizenLink conducted a poll of its subscribers. CitizenLink
is a daily news service written from a fundamentalist Christian perspective
by Focus on the Family. We suspect that the poll is indicative of the
concerns of conservative Christians on social matters. Subscribers were asked to
select the three issues that interested them most. As of 2001-MAY-2, their main
concerns were: